Provincial Court Bans 'Falcon Crest' Show As Immoral

Provincial Court Bans 'Falcon Crest' Show As Immoral

Dec. 30, 1988

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ A provincial court has ordered the television series Falcon Crest off Egyptian TV on grounds it undermines public morals, according to a newspaper report.

Falcon Crest began appearing several years ago on local television and quickly became a favorite among both poor and wealthy Egyptians, despite its depiction of a society generally foreign to the mostly conservative Egyptians.

Television censors, for example, routinely cut kissing scenes from Falcon Crest that they consider too passionate.

The TV series Dallas, a predecessor of Falcon Crest, also was widely popular until it was stopped six years ago after a member of parliament complained it was corrupting the morals of Egyptian youth.

The newspaper Wafd, published by a centrist opposition party of the same name, said Thursday the ruling banning the show was in a provincial court in the Nile Valley town of Shibin el-Kom.

In the case, brought by a lawyer identified as Mustafa Hamed Khalifa, he was quoted as arguing that scenes in Falcon Crest are ''against morality and the constitution and incite debauchery,'' Wafd said.

The newspaper said that in finding for the plaintiff, Chief Judge Radwan Mohammed Radwan also ordered Information Minister Safwat Sherif, in charge of state television and radio, to pay court costs.

A spokesman for Sherif said Thursday that he knew nothing about the case.

The director of Egyptian television's Channel 2, which airs the series, was not available for comment, but her secretary, Wafaa Hammad, said she hadn't heard about the case either.